Kitchens are now multifunctional areas – often serving as a dining room, lounge, office or family room. This means that your lighting should be carefully planned to suit each different activity, so that you have a well-lit area to prepare food, as well as more ambient setting to chill out in.
It is all well and good having beautiful worktops, an eye-catching island and high quality floor tiles, but without well placed lighting, you won’t be able to draw attention to these features!
Read our guide to discover how best to use LED lighting in your kitchen to make the best of your space and get light to where it’s needed most:
Why use LED lighting?
LED lighting is a great choice for your kitchen as it gives a natural glow rather than a harsh, fluorescent light. It instantly lights up, is eco-friendly, energy-efficient and gives longer lasting light.
Copyright: Dimitrios Stefanidis
Under-cabinet lighting
One of the most popular ways to use LED lighting in kitchens is under cabinets.
Under-cabinet lighting can be used to make everyday kitchen tasks easier to complete. By placing under-cabinet lighting over counters, or above the sink, it provides you with a well-lit surface in which to safely prepare food and wash dishes, without any shadows getting in the way.
This style of lighting is a great choice for the kitchen as it can transform a dingy workspace, providing a practical and stylish solution. It also be used to create an ambient mood using different coloured bulbs.
And don’t panic – you won’t be cooking up a sweat while you make your dinner as LED bulbs don’t give off much heat!
LED strip lighting
Kitchen led strip lights can be installed anywhere as it is thin and flexible. The LED lights come in different shapes and sizes and can be mounted in a row, giving a smooth effect when shining on a surface.
Using LED tape for your kitchen LED lights gives a user many benefits – from low running costs and compact size through to flexibility and long life.
Kitchen strip lighting can also be linked to dimmers and controllers to give you complete control, however LED lights do require a special transformer to power them.
LED spotlights
These lights are a wonderful choice for the kitchen, as they can be installed wherever you like, with each spot illuminating a specific object, surface or area, for example, the sink or breakfast bar.
Make your kitchen look much bigger by angling spotlights towards cupboards or walls, giving the illusion of vast space.
To use LED spotlights you will need to install an LED dimmer switch, as you cannot use LEDs with traditional dimmer switches.
As you can see, there are many great ways to install LED lighting around your kitchen. Lighting can be an essential part of your kitchen redecoration, not just for its functionality, but it can make a room look bigger and brighter.